Wardrobe trunk



Mar. 27, 1923. 11,449,525

' J. Y E. M NAMARA WARDROBE TRUNK Filed Feb. 27, 1922 Patented Mar, 27, 1923,

iii-ti an STATES aliases PA ten-T cri cs I JOHN E. McnAMAna, or rnrnnssnne, VIRGINIA, nssrenon. 11o snwnnnrnunirnnn BAG COMPANY, or. rnrnteszenne, IRGINIA, A oonrone'rron or VIRGINIA.

WAEIDBOBE UNK- Application filed February 27, 1922 Serial No. 539,619.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, JOHN E. MCNAMARA, citizen of the United States, residing at Pctersburg, in the county of "Dinwiddie and State of Virginia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in l l ardrobe Trunks; of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings. A I

Thisinvention relates to wardrobe trunks having shoe boxes or like receptacles dis posed in one section of the trunk, and particularly tofmeans wherebythe box orrc ceptacle is supported in this section of the trunk. i

Wardrobe trunks are formed in two sections, one of these sections being formed to contain a plurality of drawers filling the section from top to bottom. The opposite section of the trunk is provided at its upper end with means for hanging garments and at its lower end with a receptacle in the form of a box which ordinarily containsshoes. These receptacles are ordinarily arranged so as to be tiltedand'commonly arranged so as to be removable from the section to which. they are engaged. Many dilferent devices havebeen utilized: for the purpose of" holding this shoe box in place within the section and against longitudt' nal movement within the section without, however, preventing, when the trunk is opened, the readytilting of the shoebox or its removalandreplacement. Most of these devices, however, are expensive to make and apply and. manyof'them are ineffective for the purpose intended I The general object of this invention is to provide means of a very simple and cheap character'whereby'the shoe box may beheld stationary within-the trunk and yet permit the shoebox to be taken out and put in place with very little trouble.

" A further object is to provide means of a novel al'nd simple form whereby the shoe box may be readily insertechwithont careful'manipu'lation, said means acting to hold the shoebox securely in place against verticalfmovement when the trunk is closed and against accidental or intentional ont ward swinging movement when the 'trunk is opened, and particularlywhich will hold the shoebox; from accidental outward swingin'g movement unless theshoe box be'initiaL ly raised, the device then acting to automatically release the upper end of the shoe box from itsengagement' with the walls of the trunk.

Other objects will appear in the course of the following description.

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein Figure 1 is a perspective diagrammatic yiew of a wardrobe trunk illustrating my improvement applied thereto;

Figure 2 is a fragmentary vertical section. through the trunk closed, showing the manner in which the shoe box is. held in place from vertical movement when the sec tions are closed; i

F1gure 3 is a. fragmentary perspective view of one end of the shoe box;

Figure4 is a section on a horizontal plane through the lower portion of the trunk and through the shoe box.

Referring to these drawings, A designates the hangersection of a wardrobe" trunk. This hanger section, as is well known, is hinged to the other section B of tlie trunk, which is filled with drawers, as before ex plained. I do not wish. to be limited to any particular details of the trunk, as these be of any suitable character.

Attached'to the side walls a of the section A are the longitudinally extending strips 10 which are rectangular in 1-'0s's section, though these strips might be formed in any suitable manner, these strips extending downward to the bottom of the sectional. The strips 10 areiformed in twosections 10 and 10 the lower end of'the section 10 beingdownwardly and inwardly inclined and the confronting endface ofthesection 10 being also downwardly and inwardly inclined parallel to the face of the section 10 but slightly spaced therefrom.

Attached to the outer face of the section 10 is a metallic strip ll which extends down ward and-then downward and inward along by a metallic strip 12 which is attached to the outer face ofthe section 10?, then extend d se a y dew v ifcl ta theatr end face of the section 10 and then down upon the inside face ofthe section 10 the downwardly extending ends of the metallic strips: 12 being attached to the section 10 by screws, nails or other suitable fastening de vices.

The shoe box 13 may be formed in any suitable manner but is illustrated as having a rib let hinged to the bottom of the shoe box and detachably engaged with the top wall of the shoe box and with handle 15 whereby the shoe boxniay be lifted. Attached to the end walls of the shoe box at the front thereof and extending vertically upward nearly to the top of the shoe box are metallic strips 16. These strips lie flat against the end face of the shoe box and are attached thereto by nails, rivets, screws, or other suitable means. T he strips 16 are formed with laterally projecting flangesil." extending the whole length of the strip 16 and these flanges 17 at their upper ends are bent downward and rearward, as at 18, and have the same angle as the slots formed between the sections 10 and 10".

When the shoe box is in place, the downwardly extending tongues 18 extend into the slot between the sections 10 and 10*, while the flanges '17 bear against the faces of the strips 10; It will be seen that when the box is in place, the weight of the box and of its contents will tend to urge the box downward and the tongues 18 will, therefore, prevent any outward tilting movement of the box, while the flanges 17 prevent any inward movement of the box. When it is desired to tiltthe box or remove it, the box is raised by the handle 15 and as it is raised the tongues 18 hearing against the upper wall of the slot between the sections 10" and 10* will be forced outward so that the mere act of raising the shoe box automatically causes the; upper end of the box to shift outward until the tongues 18 become disengaged from the slots S. A. mere lifting of the shoe box will, therefore, completely detach the shoe box from its engagement with the trunk section A. When it has been sufficiently raised, the shoe box may be turned. down ward on thefloor, the lower ends of the flanges 17 acting under these circumstances The weight of the box, as before remarked,

and of its contents tends to hold the box in 1ts locked position. 1

It will be further obvious that the box cannot move upward unless the upper end of the box can move outward, and when the drawer sectidn of the trunk is closed against the hanger section and, therefore, against the face of the shoe box, it willbe obvious that the upper end of the shoe box cannot move outward and, therefore, the box is locked absolutely from any movement longitudinally of the trunk and thus cannot shift the trunk is'thrown around by the exigencies of travel. The flanges 17 which ex tend along the whole height of the box pre vent the box from being forced inward and act to reinforce the shoe box and prevent its deformation.

I claim v 1. In an article of the character described, a casing open on one face and having inwardly projecting strips on said facehaving downwardly and inwardly inclined slots,

and a receptacle adapted to be disposed within the case and having at its ends lat-- orally projecting flanges, the flanges being formed with downwardly and inwardly extending tongues adapted to be engaged in said slots.

2. In an article of the character described, a casing open on one face and having inwardly projecting strips on said face having downwardly and inwardly inclined slots. and a receptacle adapted to be disposed within the casing and having at its ends laterally projecting flanges, the flanges be ing formed with downwardly and inwardly extending tongues adapted to be engaged in said slots, the ends of said receptacle having strips attached thereto angular in cross section, the strips having a length nearly equal to the height of the receptacle and being attached by their flanges to the receptacle, the upper ends of the strips being formed to provide downwardly and inwardly inclined tonguesadapted to be engaged in said slots.

3. In a wardrobe trunk a drawer section, a clothes section and a shoe box adapted to be disposed in the lower end of the clothes hanging section flush with the outer face thereof, and single means on each side of the shoe box locking said shoe box in engagement with the sides of the section and preventing outward or upward'movement of the shoe box, downward movement of the shoe box, or swinging movement of the shoe box when the sections of the trunk are closed.

4:. In a wardrobe trunk, a drawer-section, a clothes hanging section, a shoe box adapted to be disposed in the lower end of the clothes hanging section flush with the face thereof, and single means disposed on each side of said shoe box in engagement with the side walls of thesections preventing bodily outward, upward, downward or swinging movement of the box when the sections of the trunk are closed but permitting upward and outward bodily movement of the shoe box to detach the shoe box from the side walls of the section when the trunk sections are opened.

5. In a wardrobe trunk, a trunk section formed at its ends with downwardly and inwardly inclined slots extending parallel to the side walls of the trunk section, and a box having at its upper end downwardly and inwardly inclined tongues adapted to engage in said slots, the box having means limiting the inward movement of the box with relation to the trunk section.

6. In a wardrobe trunk, a trunk section having members extending toward each other and disposed vertically at the sides of the trunk section, each of said members being formed with a downwardly and inwardly inclined slot, and a box adapted to be disposed within the trunk section having clownwardly and inwardly projecting tongues supported on the ends of the box and en gageable in said slots and having means engaging said members and limiting the inward movement of the box within the trunk section.

7. In a wardrobe trunk, a trunk section having its end walls provided at their front edges with vertically extending strips, said strips being downwardly and inwardly slothavino' side walls and a box fitting between the side walls and removable from the trunk section, means limiting the insertion of the box into the trunk section to a position where thelfront of the box is flush with the front of the trunk section means locking the box to the trunk section when the box is in a lowered po sition and preventing downward or swinging movement of the box when the trunk sections are opened but looking the box against bodily upwardor outward movement when the trunk sections are closed,. said means causing the upward and outward movement of the box to release the locking engagement between the box and trunk section when lifting force is appliedto the box.

ted metallic facing strips attached to the 3 In testimony whereof I hereunto aliix my signature.

JOHN E. MGNADIARA; 

